Warnings: Kind of references to past violence, extreme historical inaccuracies
Pairings mentioned/brought up: Rome x Germania, Rome x Ancient Greece
-1.4-
There was a party at the palace. Inside, the ballroom had been decorated splendidly with golden drapery, and musicians played a variety of exotic instruments as the guests danced and drank themselves stupid. Earlier, Aldrich had stood by his charge's side, witnessing the most powerful people at the event's small meeting of sorts. They had spared about five seconds or so to the topic of the human-king's new bodyguard, then continued with discussing politics and the like. In the short time he was there, Aldrich could tell that this frivolous human was actually much more intelligent than he let on, but, judging by the amount of expensive wine he'd consumed in only an hour, it took a lot out of him to think to this extent. He'd gotten so drunk he actually told Aldrich to take a break. He told his main protector to 'take a break.'
And so, Aldrich sat on a bench in the palace gardens, 'taking a break.' In the week or so since he'd sworn his allegiance to the human-king, he'd been given his own 'clothing' to wear. Unlike the human-king's valuable robes of crimson and marble-colored silk, Aldrich was given much more practical, cotton tunics, trousers, and leather boots. Along with these, he also had 'formal wear' shoved in his face, which he purposely 'forgot' to wear tonight, and a northern suit of iron, plate armor, which he purposely 'forgot' to take off and replace with the superfluous formal wear. If he was going to protect the human-king, he was going to do it properly and not in silks that could be easily cut through. Aldrich sighed.
Humans are so strange.
"Aldrich, hey!" Speak of the devil and he shall appear. He heard a loud plop next to him, glancing over to see his charge. The human-king had the largest grin Aldrich had ever seen plastered upon his face, a faraway look in his amber eyes. He wrapped a sun-kissed arm around his neck, and the 'wolf' received a nose-full of the sickly strong scent of wine, noticing the almost-empty bottle clutched in the other's opposite hand. Definitely intoxicated.
"Everyone inside was asking about you!" The human-king began, "'Is it true you're keeping a wolf in the palace?' 'Did you really manage to get a spirit as a servant?' It made me miss you!"
"So you abandoned all of your guests in favor of finding me?"
"Yes!" The other jeered, holding him even tighter. "I missed you." The human-king turned his head to look directly at him, and suddenly Aldrich noticed just how close they were. "Aldrich, have I ever told you you're very handsome?" His drunkenly dilated eyes became half-lidded as his voice took on a more sultry tone. Then, that other hand started wandering, and the 'wolf' leaped up from the bench, entire face aflame.
"Wha- that is inappropriate! It is against human customs for a- a protector and his- his-" Aldrich didn't like this one bit. His face was feverishly warm, his heart felt about ready to stop, and there was an incredibly uncomfortable fluttering sensation in his gut.
"Aww, but Aldrich!" His charge whined loudly, "Why do you have to be such a kill-joy?"
"No." He regained his bearings and firmly planted his arms across his chest, "We are not doing that."
In response, the human-king simply flopped off the bench, mumbling something about a 'no-good barbarian' into the grass.
The human-king was getting married. Aldrich didn't quite know what to think of this. According to his charge, she was a human-princess from a more eastern territory of the empire, and the two of them had copulated a few times in the past. 'One-night stands,' he'd called them. The 'wolf' wasn't entirely sure whether he should be happy or not. This was a good thing, the human-king getting married, because it meant that the royal court wouldn't be so harsh on him, and perhaps he would be more active about taking care of himself; maybe Aldrich wouldn't have to remind him to brush his hair in the morning.
However, what if, as soon as they wed, the human-king would forget about him? Marriage was a big thing, and certainly a lot was going to change with this new development. At the very least, Aldrich probably wouldn't be allowed to sleep at the foot of the bed in his wolf form anymore, seeing as human couples normally shared a bed. Surely, the human-king's new wife wouldn't be very comfortable with a wolf spirit sleeping in the same bed as them. Aldrich would most likely be forced to sleep on the floor like an average dog; either that, or he would be given a new room, something far worse than the first option, seeing as he wouldn't be able to properly guard the human-king in his sleep that way.
And today he was going to meet the girl that would quite possibly get in-between him and his charge. Great.
"Athena!" The human-king grinned as a woman a few years or so older than him entered the garden sitting area they had chosen to meet in.
"Khaíre, Romulus! It's been a long time!" This 'Athena' was admittedly quite beautiful, her dark brown hair cascading over her shoulder, slightly messy ringlets held together with a sky blue ribbon. While the human-king was all warm tones of passionate crimson and gold, this woman was almost the exact opposite, her color pallet composing of shades of silver and blue that gave off an air of refined sophistication. Her skin somehow looked to be a cooler tone than the human-king's, despite both being a nice shade of olive-tan, and her eyes were an ice blue that reminded Aldrich of the cold, winter water of the northern seas. In stark contrast to most of the palace and royal decorations, she wore finely-made robes of baby blue, designed to resemble the togas of the goddesses of the eastern peninsula.
And yet she and the human-king greeted each other like old friends.
Aldrich shifted uncomfortably in place behind his charge, gaze locked emotionlessly on the future human-queen.
As if he only just noticed the other's presence, the human-king suddenly turned to his protector. "Ah, yes! Athena, this is my personal guard, Aldrich! Aldrich, this is my betrothed, Princess Athena Karpusi of the eastern peninsula."
The human-princess smiled at him, "It's a pleasure to finally meet the famed spirit sworn to protect my fiancé. I sincerely hope that like with Romulus, you will come to care for me as well."
"The pleasure is all mine." Aldrich replied mechanically. He didn't trust this woman.
"Please, sit!" The human-king excitedly gestured to the seat across from him. The human-princess graciously took his offer and sat herself down.
Throughout their conversation, anyone could clearly tell their eccentric conflict of personalities. The human-king was quite frivolous, wanting only to plan what delicious, high-quality food they were going to serve at the wedding, while the human-princess was wise beyond comparison, wishing to instead have a deep interaction about philosophy and the meaning of life. She was very intelligent. Even more intelligent than the human-king when talking about battle strategies, as Aldrich had witnessed numerous times.
By the end of the human-princess's stay, Aldrich distrusted her even more than he did originally.
On the night of the wedding, Aldrich found himself standing in the palace gardens once more, staring hopelessly at the sunset as the after-party raged on inside. Throughout the entire ceremony, he'd stood stock-still near his charge, knowing this would be the night everything changed. He was scared.
"Hey, there you are!" Aldrich tensed as the, now married, human-king rushed towards him, footfalls making soft thumps on the late-spring grass. "What's with you and running off during parties?" He panted slightly from running around looking for his bodyguard.
"I do not like them. They are filled with intoxicated humans. You remember the last time you were intoxicated, correct?"
"Yeah, but… are you okay? You seem kind of distant."
Aldrich didn't look over at his charge, "I am fine."
"No, you're not!" The human-king was probably pouting by now, "Stop saying you are!"
"If that is what you wish, then I will stop."
"Wait, that actually works?"
"Why would it not? I swore to serve you, remember?"
"Oh. Then tell me what's wrong."
Aldrich's intense gaze hardened, "There is some strange, human feeling in my gut I do not understand."
"What?"
"You sound baffled. I thought surely, one who experiences such loud emotions would be able to explain this to me. I must admit I am slightly disappointed."
"Wha- hey! I'm sure I could tell you what that is if you would just open up about stuff! It's like you never tell me anything anymore!" He whined, resting his forehead on Aldrich's armored shoulder with an audible bonk. "I don't like secrets."
"And I do not like telling them."
"Fine, then let's talk about something else!" He automatically rebounded, hugging the other's arm, "How come you always call me 'human-king?' Do spirits not have royalty?"
Aldrich raised an eyebrow at the peculiar question, "No, spirits do not normally have nations and empires like you humans do. Like with names, they are unnecessary."
"Then what do you have?"
He paused for a moment, recalling now-old memories of his communities, "Well, first of all, we do not have any hierarchy or caste system. Our 'towns' are more like your 'communities,' in which no one is really 'in charge' and everyone is equally important. We all carry our own weight, and these groups are mainly just for protection and easy access to food."
"Hmm," The human-king pondered this information for a moment before saying, "Then who was that one spirit in your memories that you were talking to about trouble in the north?"
"A 'manager' of sorts. Most communities have one or two spirits that keep track of the number of hunters, the food stores, the number of pregnant spirits, so on and so forth. Like I said, no one is really the 'leader,' but there are spirits especially designated for management of the community."
"What were you?"
"Hmm?"
"What did you do in your community? You were a hunter, right?"
"Yes, I was a hunter," Aldrich spared a glance at the human-king, his face having taken on that rare look, that look in which he seemed to actually think about more than just sex, food, and violence. "I am surprised you remembered that."
"And yet they sent you to investigate whatever was going on." It was a statement, not a question. His charge seemed frustrated by something.
"Yes, because I was one of the strongest. They were concerned that if no one did anything about the black magic that had overtaken the northern isles, we would all be in grave danger."
The two stood in comfortable silence for a while, just watching the twilit sky, the groom of the wedding still clutching onto Aldrich's arm like a lifeline. "Aldrich… ?" He lazily murmured.
"Yes?"
"What happened to you, the day we first met?"
The 'wolf' took a deep breath. "I went up north to find out what was going on, just as I was asked to."
"And?" Their eyes met, warm amber against cool green.
"And… there was a woman."
At this, the human-king raised his eyebrows in puzzlement. "A woman?"
"Yes, a witch. I still remember the look on her face as she sent those shadow wolves after me: fiery hair whirling all about, fierce green eyes, unusually large eyebrows. She was a dark mage. She almost killed me."
"But she didn't."
"But she did not."
"Do you think your community misses you?"
"I am certain they think me long-since dead by now."
The other let go of Aldrich's arm, only to reach up and grab a tuft of blonde hair.
"What are you-"
"Braiding," He simply said with a grin. "I want to lighten the mood."
Aldrich sighed and held still, a light blush coloring his cheeks. After a few minutes, his charge returned his hands to his sides and declared, "There! All done!"
He brought tentative fingers to his hair, to feel the soft bumps of woven-together locks. He turned to the other, "What, does this make me more beautiful or something?"
The human-king laughed with a wink, "Just promise you won't take it out, okay?"
"Of course." Aldrich found he couldn't help the slight, upward tugging on his lips.
A/N:
Bonjour! X3 (Yes, I take French as a foreign language in school. No, I don't think you actually care about that. XP)
This is the second to last sub-part of part 1! =D And I'm not even remotely done with part 2! DX
Progress through this part: 4/5
Athena is Ancient Greece.
How many sub-parts I have done in part 2 so far: I'm at about ~2.3/2.?
Responses to review(s):
Seele Esser Deutsch: Hahahaha... yeah, again, I'm really sorry about the next sub-part! Good luck with the feels, because you're probably not getting any more content for a loooong while after this! DX